Analysis of the role of diversity on the teamwork in organizations
Discuss About The Cultural Affecting International Teamwork.
The small and the large business organizations are competing in the global environment for the new customers and they are thereby able to recognise the value of the diversity levels in the teams and the organizational groups. The smart managers of organizations have realized the importance of increase in diversity with the implementation of the new ideas, services and products. Diversity can be defined as the differences that are present between the various dimensions of the employees including, race, age, sexual orientation and political beliefs. The frame references of a particular person are also shaped with the help of various external factors related to the ways by which he lives and is raised and the educational opportunities that are available for him (Baumeister, Ainsworth and Vohs 2016).
The essay will be mainly based on the levels of diversity in the various organizational groups. The effect of diversity in the effectiveness of teamwork in the organization and the analysis of the advantages and the disadvantages of this concept related to the teamwork in organizations will be discussed in the essay.
As discussed by, Benoliel and Somech (2015) the levels of diversity in the different organizations are not same. The diversity levels are related to the external factors that are present in the environment. The impact of the shared traits of the employees in organizations can prove to be an advantage or disadvantage for them. The people who belong to the similar backgrounds have same physical traits and are comfortable in the interaction with the people. On the other hand, the similar traits can also lead to the similar thought process of employees and the lack of innovation. The thinking process in the organizations are affected by the similar traits of the people who are a part of the organizational processes. The teams or the groups which comprise of people who have different age, race, sex and cultural backgrounds and the other factors result in the collaboration of diverse thinking. The preconceived notions of the employees are thereby challenged by the different thinking process and diverse backgrounds. This helps in the opening up of new ideas services, products and processes within the organizations. The managers of the organizations strive for diversity by balancing individuals that they select with respect to the internal factors which include, race, gender and age and the external factors which include, the educational experiences, different backgrounds, political ideologies and the educational experiences as well (Carter et al. 2015). The managers try to encourage the feedback, start discussions with the diverse teams and groups. This can further help in the flexible process of decision-making and active listening to the issues and thoughts of the employees by the managers.
The effect of culture and personal backgrounds on team dynamics
According to Eisenberg, Gibbs and Erhardt (2016), the diverse workplaces are able to create better results for the organizations. The multicultural teams have been found to be much more effective in the various studies as compared to the homogenous teams. The ethnic diversity is related to the success and the innovation levels in the organizations. The individual teams are making sure that the different viewpoints, different perspectives and different backgrounds are present in the various teams. The idea that is related to the different perspectives can provide better results at work has been also examined from macro-economic perspectives as well. The various researches have shown that the diverse cities are able to experience high levels of economic growth as compared to the less diverse cities. The building of multicultural teams can put pressure on the managers of the organizations. The rifts that occur between the different cultures can also cause issues even is the members of the team are not directly involved in the conflicts (Fay et al. 2015). The managers of the diverse teams need to encourage the practices that can keep the potential frictions low. The effects related to the disharmony between cultures can reduce the effectiveness of the managers in the organizations. The effective management of the cultural friction can help in the creation of a harmonious workforce so that the creative benefits can be reaped.
As argued by, Herdman, Yang and Arthur (2017), the modern business environment demands high levels of diversity in the organizations mainly related to the areas of ethnicity and race. The formation of diverse teams is important for the purpose of creating innovations and new ideas in the organizations. This further brings a social change for the various groups which are a part of the organizations. The senior leaders or managers of the organizations need to represent diversity and attract more and more candidates from the diverse backgrounds. The effectiveness of the leaders is important for the proper functioning of the diverse groups. The building of teams which feature people from different backgrounds and their personal experiences can ensure that greater levels of performance of the can be achieved and better decisions can be made. The heterogeneous teams have thereby proved to be much more effective as compared to the other teams.
The start-up organizations tend to employ less diverse employees as compared to the older organizations. The main reason behind this is related to the sourcing of the employees from within their own networks which further results in the recruitment of similar types of employees. The employees who belong to these homogeneous teams have common thoughts and perspectives and experiences. This results in the lack of creative and innovative ideas in the organizational processes. The working relationships within the heterogeneous teams sometimes however tend to become messy in nature (Herdman, Yang and Arthur 2017). The starting points and the perspectives of the employees of these teams are different which often results in the high levels of conflicts and the difficulties arise in the understanding of the rationale and points. The high risk levels of the diverse teams further tend to provide high returns to the organizations. The true diversity has brought the people with a wide range of perspectives, beliefs, personal experiences and the ways by which they interact with each other. The members of the diverse groups are however related to the goals of the organization as a whole. The diverse group of employees belonging to different groups thereby work together to achieve the vision and the goals of the organizations (Hu and Liden 2015).
Advantages and disadvantages of diversity in organizational processes
The members of a diverse team do not share similar background or same political ideas and religion. The clashes related to the culture and the personality of the members tend to occur in the diverse teams of the organizations. The thoughtful process of planning can help in solving the conflicts that are related to the misunderstanding that is creating within the various teams. The origin or the country to which a person belongs can influence the ways by which he approaches towards the work in an organization. The various occupational and educational backgrounds are major factors that affect the diversification of the teams (Levitt 2015).
As discussed by, Lourenç and Dó (2014), the creation of the diverse teams is quite important in the modern business organizations. The leaders of the organizations are affected by the positive and the negative aspects of diversity. The culture of the organization is a major factor that affects the effectiveness of the diverse teams. Diversity provides some concrete benefits in the workplace and the organizations thereby need to hire more diverse employees. The benefits that are provided by diversity may not be visible in the initial stages, however, the companies can realize the benefits later on the during the work process. Diversity in an organization fosters the levels of innovation as the different types of people are able to provide different ideas. As argued by, Matthews and McLees (2015), the teams also become more effective and innovative due to the increase of diversity in the various organizational processes. This helps in the creation of new ideas which further leads to the quick solutions to various issues that are raised in the organizations. Diverse teams are thereby more productive, innovative and creative in nature. Diversity is not only promoted within the organizations as a whole, however the departments and the teams are also able to boost the productivity of the company. The diversity in various teams helps in opening global opportunities for the organizations. The diverse teams within the organizations help in increasing the global opportunities. The organization can thereby become a global leader in its specific field if the teams are able to provide diverse ideas to the management. The culture of the organization is also improved with the help of the inclusion of diverse types of employees within the workforce (Mitchell et al. 2015). The increase in the diversity of the organization will help in increasing the talent pool and levels of ideas that can be provided in the organizational processes. The brand value of the organization can also increase with the help of the creation of a diverse workforce which helps in the improvement of opinions of the customers. The diverse organizations show the consumers that they are global minded, innovative, inclusive and future headed as well. The levels of diversity have further increased with the increase in the usage of technology in various work processes. The diverse employees are also able to assist the diverse customer base. The diverse teams can solve the issues that are faced by the different types of customers (Nishii et al. 2018). The multinational corporations need to deal with different types of employees in its global operations. This process is supported by the diverse teams which can help in increasing the capabilities of the organizations in the different areas of its operations. Diversity thereby helps the organizations to create better and effective teams so that they are able to get a different position in the market.
The formation of diverse teams has become a hot topic in the conversations related to team building. The diversity related factors of the organizations include, the gender, age, ethnicity, experience levels and social class. The members of team consist of critical thinkers with different levels of sensibilities and the areas of expertise who are able to collaborate with each other to reach a common goals and get effective results (Salas et al. 2015). The team members with different backgrounds and academic levels are able to provide better ideas which are diverse in nature. The diverse teams allow members to serve the specific roles that are based on their individual strengths. The main positive effect that is provided by diverse teams is based on the solving of different conflicts in an effective manner. The diversity related factors thereby play an important role in increasing the creativity levels of the organizations and they are able to innovate new products as well (Tekleab et al. 2016).
Diversity also provides some major disadvantages to the teams which include different types of employees. The old and traditional ways of thinking act as a hindrance in the to the implementation of diversity. The transition from normal to diverse organizations involves some major costs to the company. This can also act as a disadvantage for the implementation of diversity in the workplace and the teams. The inclusion of different types of employees also requires high levels of management by the superiors or the managers of organizations van (Knippenberg and Mell 2016).
Conclusion
The essay can be concluded by stating that diversity plays a major role in the effectiveness of the teams. The creativity and the innovativeness of the teams are also increased by the inclusion of different type of employees. The new and different ideas that are provided by the employees is an important advantage of diverse teams. However, the organizations and teams also need to face some major challenges related to the inclusion of diverse employees. The costs and the efforts that are related to the inclusion of different types of employees can act as a hindrance to the development of organizations with the help of the various diverse teams. The diversity related issue therefore has some advantages and some major disadvantages that are related to the effectiveness of the diverse teams. The management of the organizations thereby need to plan the inclusion of employees in the teams before the formation of the diverse teams.
References
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